Awakening, Self-Abandonment, and the Human Experience

I explore why simply being aware may not be enough for a lasting shift. In my experience, awakening also means turning toward the feelings and contractions we’ve learned to reject, listening to what they need, and taking action. The work is to stop abandoning ourselves and reconnect with the wisdom already within us.👉 Free Course: https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 March 2027 Shift Happens retreat with Alex - Early Bird: https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Work with Me 1:1 - free 15 minute consultation: https://calendly.com/simon-wgw/simon-mundie-intro-call👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmSimonMundie👉 My Book 'Champion Thinking': https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/👉 My Substack: https://simonmundie.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I explore why seeing yourself as “awareness” may not end suffering—and why awakening and embodiment are different parts of the journey. For me, the practical work is noticing where I abandon myself, meeting experience with loving presence, and letting that recognition shape how I relate, set boundaries, and show up in everyday life.👉 Free Course: https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 March 2027 Shift Happens retreat with Alex - Early Bird: https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Work with Me 1:1 - free 15 minute consultation: https://calendly.com/simon-wgw/simon-mundie-intro-call👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmSimonMundie👉 My Book 'Champion Thinking': https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/👉 My Substack: https://simonmundie.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Overthinking may be a signal that something in the body needs attention—or that the mind hasn’t had enough space to slow down. In this episode, I share a compassionate way to meet the feelings beneath the thoughts, plus a simple practice that helps me settle during a restless night.👉 Free Course: https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 March 2027 Shift Happens retreat with Alex - Early Bird: https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Work with Me 1:1 - free 15 minute consultation: https://calendly.com/simon-wgw/simon-mundie-intro-call👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmSimonMundie👉 My Book 'Champion Thinking': https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/👉 My Substack: https://simonmundie.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I had a dream this summer about Alex leaving that stirred up grief connected to a painful experience from when I was 15. On holiday, I noticed myself using a book to avoid the feeling - and chose instead to welcome and feel the grief without resisting it or building a story around it.In this solo episode, I explore why awakening doesn’t mean being finished with pain - and how turning toward what we avoid can bring shadow work into everyday life and open the way to greater ease, wholeness, and presence.👉 Free Course: https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmSimonMundie👉 My Book 'Champion Thinking': https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/👉 My Substack: https://simonmundie.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Alex and I explore the real meaning of vulnerability and how letting ourselves be truly seen has transformed our relationship, our healing, and our spiritual awakening.We explore the fear of being judged, the importance of feeling safe enough to be seen, and how intention is the key difference between healthy vulnerability and self‑abandonment.Through a series of honest personal stories—from early moments in our relationship to childhood memories, a big “shame car wash” release, and how we model emotions with our kids—we share how being witnessed in our most tender places can unlock profound healing. We talk about how vulnerability has transformed our marriage, our inner lives, and our work, and how allowing all emotions (including grief, shame and sadness) is inseparable from awakening to our natural state of presence and contentment.👉 FREE WEBINAR WITH SIMON @ 7pm TONIGHT - EFFORTLESS MEDITATION - REGISTER HERE: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/TNJkUn-WSCe4W_if_MZ-hA👉 THE SHIFT HAPPENS RETREAT WITH SIMON & ALEX (October 3rd in London): https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Work with Me - free 15 minute 1:1 consultation: https://calendly.com/simon-wgw/simon-mundie-intro-call👉 Client Endorsements: https://www.simonmundie.com/👉 Free Course: https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmSimonMundie👉 My Book 'Champion Thinking': https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/👉 My Substack: https://simonmundie.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One year ago this week I didn't know if I'd make it back to my wife and kids in one piece. For two weeks after a retreat I was electrically alive — plugged into the mains — with a tremendous amount of fear I was losing my mind. In this episode, one year after my kundalini awakening, I need to be honest about what actually happened: the fear, the empty Sunday where there was no Simon, the energy that wouldn't switch off, and the test that mattered most — would Simon turn up to work?01:00 Walking contemplation and fear02:30 Returning home and bliss04:05 Plugged into the mains — kundalini intensity06:20 Nisargadatta wisdom / love insight walking down the street08:00 Energy work from Alex11:05 Would Simon show up for work?12:00 How this changed my coaching👉 THE SHIFT HAPPENS RETREAT WITH SIMON & ALEX (October 3rd in London): https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Client Endorsements: https://www.simonmundie.com/👉 Free Course: https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 My Book on Flow: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/👉 My Substack: https://simonmundie.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Saying Yes When You Mean No: The Subtle Art of Self-Abandonment.In this conversation, Simon and his wife Alex unpack the subtle but pervasive pattern of self-abandonment—saying yes when you mean no, overriding your body’s signals, and outsourcing your sense of worth to other people’s approval.Simon shares how self-abandonment forms in childhood, how it shows up as people-pleasing, overthinking, and numbing behaviours, and why learning to stay with your feelings is the first step to real change. Alex brings her own lived examples of boundaries, guilt, and the “expansion” that follows when you finally honour what you actually want.They then connect this work directly to spiritual awakening: how stopping the internal battle and saying a loving “yes” to your inner experience opens the door to experiencing oneness, love, and the “frequency of reality” as it really is.👉 THE SHIFT HAPPENS RETREAT WITH SIMON & ALEX (October 3rd in London): https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 https://www.simonmundie.com/retreats👉 Client Endorsements: https://www.simonmundie.com/👉 Free Course: https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 My Book on Flow: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/👉 My Substack: https://simonmundie.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THE SHIFT HAPPENS RETREAT WITH SIMON & ALEX (October 3rd in London): https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Work with Me - free 15 minute 1:1 consultation: https://calendly.com/simon-wgw/simon-mundie-intro-call👉 Website for coaching endorsements and retreat info: https://www.simonmundie.com👉 Free Course on 'Freedom From the Me Mind': https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 My book on Flow and Real success: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this clip from our longer conversation, I speak with neuroscientist Dr Andrew Newberg, author of How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain, about a powerful Kensho experience I had about a year ago.I describe a two‑week period of bliss, emptiness of self, and a felt oneness with everything – followed by a lasting shift in how “Simon” shows up: far less identification with the personal story, and a difficulty travelling into past and future through the mind in the old way. My question to Andrew is simple:What actually happened to my brain?Andrew shares what decades of research into spiritual experiences reveal about:The difference between a moment of enlightenment and living from an enlightened perspectiveWhy powerful awakening experiences often create lasting changes in identity, beliefs, and behaviourThe five core elements commonly reported in enlightenment and Kensho experiencesHow states of oneness and non‑separation relate to the parietal lobe and our sense of selfThe role of the thalamus and wider brain networks in “rewiring” our perception of realityWhy unusual sensations in the body (including in the head) are often part of these shiftsTHE SHIFT HAPPENS RETREAT WITH SIMON & ALEX (October 3rd in London): https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Work with Me - free 15 minute 1:1 consultation: https://calendly.com/simon-wgw/simon-mundie-intro-call👉 Website for coaching endorsements and retreat info: https://www.simonmundie.com👉 Free Course on 'Freedom From the Me Mind': https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 My book on Flow and Real uccess: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What actually changes when you stop abandoning yourself and begin meeting your experience fully?In this short episode, I step aside and let a few of the people I’ve worked with share—in their own words—what changed for them through our coaching together.If their experiences resonate, you can find details about working with me, and the upcoming retreat Alex and I are running, in the links below.THE SHIFT HAPPENS RETREAT WITH SIMON & ALEX (October 3rd in London): https://shift-happens-retreat.subscribepage.io/👉 Work with Me - free 15 minute 1:1 consultation: https://calendly.com/simon-wgw/simon-mundie-intro-call👉 Website for coaching endorsements and retreat info: https://www.simonmundie.com👉 Free Course on 'Freedom From the Me Mind': https://www.simonmundie.com/courses👉 My book on Flow and Real uccess: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/champion-thinking-9781526626486/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.